Well, it's only about three weeks behind - Stam has been kicked out of United, Dean Richards is at Spurs, but Peter Taylor has not been sacked by Leicester yet. The most obvious is the new player database. What the already initiated among you will want to know is what's changed since last time. If you need to know any more about the nuts and bolts, we'd suggest you check out the review of CM 00/01 (or even the original Championship Manager 3 release) - after all, this is essentially the same game with a few add-ons. To complicate matters there are injuries, transfers, money matters, player contracts, demanding chairmen, demanding fans, demanding players and their evil agents, the media poking their noses in, the FA and of course other managers, like Sir Alex, tapping up your best players. Well, you take over a team (from any one of about 20 countries), pick a squad, train them, select a tactical system that works and then pick the side and watch them play - in an exciting, text-only way of course. But what about the nuts and bolts - how do you turn Southend United into Real Madrid? How do you keep Doug Ellis happy without spending any cash? So we've established Sports Interactive's title is the greatest management sim ever, and for many, the greatest PC game ever. This is because CM is the nearest I will ever get to emulating Sir Alex, Martin O'Neill and even, because I am a glutton for punishment, Barry Fry. You think it at work or in the car, wondering if Michael Bridges can cut it at the top level or just how long can Teddy Sheringham compete in Premiership ('no' and 'two seasons maximum' are the answers).ĬM is also a breaker of homes - just ask my missus after she hasn't heard from me for six hours and another essential DIY project is left undone for another weekend.

CM has since evolved to include more leagues, more information, more statistics and greater tactical control, but even after a decade of updates, at its heart CM remains the same addictive-as-hell game with a cast iron guarantee of hours, days, weeks, months of anguish, tension and sheer enjoyment. Even then, it was an all-consuming management game, with a level of detail and involvement never before seen. It is now ten years since the game first appeared on the old Commodore Amiga, packed into three floppy disks. But for those whose heads have been buried in the sand, here's a brief recap on the CM phenomenon. The latest version of Championship Manager is upon us, and it is, to be fair, an update of last year's superb edition. It's time to don the sheepskin coat, get the teacups ready for the half-time rant and settle down in the virtual dugout for a lifetime of agony and ecstasy.

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